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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
breakfast next day. “It is preposterouswickedmonstrous, to
suppose that a young, educated female, would, or could, commit such crimes! Why, Mike, she understands French and Italian, and Spanish; and I think it quite likely that she can also
read German, if, indeed, she cannot speak it!”
“How do you know this? Has she been making a display of
her knowledge?”
“Not in the least it all came out as naturally as possible. She
asked for some of her own books to read, and when they were
brought to her, I found that she had selected works in all four
of these languages. I was quite ashamed of my own ignorance,
I can assure you; which amounts to no more than a smattering
of French, in the face of her Spanish, Italian and German!”
“Poh! I should n’t have minded it, in the least,” Michael
very coolly replied, his mouth being half – full of beefsteak.
“The girls lead us in such things, of course. No man dreams of
keeping up with a young lady who has got into the living languages. Miss Wilmeter might teach us both, and laugh at our
ignorance, in the bargain.”
“Sarah! Ay, she is a good enough girl, in her way but no
more to be compared”
Jack Wilmeter stopped short, for Millington dropped his
knife with not a little clatter, on his plate, and was gazing at
his friend in a sort of fierce astonishment.
“You do n’t dream of comparing your sister to this un-
known and suspected stranger!” at length Michael got out,
speaking very much like one whose head has been held under
water until his breath was nearly exhausted. “You ought to
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
recollect, John, that virtue should never be brought unnecessarily in contact with vice.”
“Mike, and do you, too, believe in the guilt of Mary Mon-
son?”
“I believe that she is committed under a verdict given by
an inquest, and think it best to suspend my opinion as to the
main fact, in waiting for further evidence. Remember, Jack,
how often your uncle has told us that, after all, good witnesses
were the gist of the law. Let us wait and see what a trial may
bring forth.”
Young Wilmeter covered his face with his hands, bowed
his head to the table, and ate not another morsel that morning. His good sense admonished him of the prudence of the
advice just given; while feelings, impetuous, and excited almost to fierceness, impelled him to go forth and war on all
who denied the innocence of the accused. To own the truth,
John Wilmeter was fast becoming entangled in the meshes of
love.
And, sooth to say, notwithstanding the extreme awkward-
ness of her situation, the angry feeling that was so fast rising
up against her in Biberry and its vicinity, and the general mystery that concealed her real name, character and history, there
was that about Mary Monson, in her countenance, other personal advantages, and most of all in her manner and voice,
that might well catch the fancy of a youth of warm feelings,
and through his fancy, sooner or later, touch his heart. As yet,
John was only under the influence of the new – born sentiment, and had he now been removed from Biberry, it is probable that the feelings and interest which had been so suddenly
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
and powerfully awakened in him would have passed away altogether, or remained in shadow on his memory, as a melancholy
and yet pleasant record of hours past, under circumstances in
which men live fast, if they do not always live well. Little did
the uncle think of the great danger to which he exposed his
nephew, when he placed him, like a sentinel in law, on duty
near the portal of his immured client. But the experienced
Dunscomb was anxious to bring John into active life, and to
place him in situations that might lead him to think and execute for himself; and it had been much his practice, of late, to
put the young man forward, whenever circumstances would
admit of it. Although the counsellor was more than at his ease
in fortune, and John and Sarah each possessed very respectable means, that placed them altogether above dependence,
he was exceedingly anxious that his nephew should succeed
to his own business, as the surest mode of securing his happiness and respectability in a community where the number
of the idle is relatively so small as to render the pursuits of
a class that is by no means without its uses, where it can be
made to serve the tastes and manners of a country, difficult of
attainment. He had the same desire in behalf of his niece, or
that she should become the wife of a man who had something
to do; and the circumstance that Millington, though of highly
reputable connections, was almost entirely without fortune,
was no objection in his eyes to the union that Sarah was so
obviously inclined to form. The two young men had been left
on the ground, therefore, to take care of the interests of a client whom Dunscomb was compelled to admit was one that
interested him more than any other in whose services he had
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
ever been employed, strongly as he was disposed to fear that
appearances might be deceitful.
Our young men were not idle. In addition to doing all that
was in their power to contribute to the personal comforts of
Miss Monson, they were active and intelligent in obtaining,
and making notes of, all the facts that had been drawn out
by the coroner’s inquest, or which could be gleaned in the
neighbourhood. These facts, or rumours, John classed into the
“proved,” the “reported,” the “probable” and the “improbable;”
accompanying each division with such annotations as made a
very useful sort of brief for any one who wished to push the
inquiries further.
“There, Millington,” he said when they reached the gaol, on
their return from a walk as far as the ruins of the house which
had been burnt, and after they had dined, “there; I think we
have done tolerably well for one day, and are in a fair way to
give uncle Tom a pretty full account of this miserable business.
The more I see and learn of it, the more I am convinced of the
perfect innocence of the accused. I trust it strikes you in the
same way, Mike?”
But Mike was by no means as sanguine as his friend. He
smiled faintly at this question, and endeavoured to evade
a direct answer. He saw how lively were the hopes of Tom,
and how deeply his feelings were getting to be interested in
the matter, while his own judgment, influenced, perhaps, by
Mr. Dunscomb’s example, greatly inclined him to the worst
foreboding of the result. Still he had an honest satisfaction in
saying anything that might contribute to the gratification of
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
Sarah’s brother, and a good opportunity now offering, he did
not let it escape him.
“There is one thing, Jack, that seems to have been strangely
overlooked,” he said, “and out of which some advantage may
come, if it be thoroughly sifted. You may remember it was stated by some of the witnesses, that there was a German woman
in the family of the Goodwins, the day that preceded the fire
one employed in housework?”
“Now you mention it, I do! Sure enough; what has become
of that woman?”
“While you were drawing your diagram of the ruins, and
projecting your plan of the out – buildings, garden, fields and
so on, I stepped across to the nearest house, and had a chat
with the ladies. You may remember I told you it was to get
a drink of milk; but I saw petticoats, and thought something
might be learned from woman’s propensity to talk?”
“I know you left me, but was too busy, just then, to see on
what errand, or whither you went.”
“It was to the old stone farm – house that stands only fifty
rods from the ruins. The family in possession is named Burton,
and a more talkative set I never encountered in petticoats.”
“How many had you to deal with, Mike?” John enquired,
running his eyes over his notes as he asked the question, in a
way that showed how little he anticipated from this interview
with the Burtons. “If more than one of the garrulous set I pity
you, for I had a specimen of them yesterday morning myself, in
a passing interview.”
“There were three talkers, and one silent body. As is usual,
I thought that the silent member of the house knew more than
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
the speakers, if she had been inclined to let out her knowledge.”
“Ay, that is a way we have of judging of one another; but
it is as often false as true. As many persons are silent because
they have nothing to say, as because they are reflecting; and
of those who look very wise, about one – half, as near as I can
judge, look so as a sort of apology for being very silly.”
“I can’t say how it was with Mrs. Burton, the silent member
of the family, in this case; but I do know that here three worthy
sisters – in – law are to be classed among the foolish virgins.”
“Had they no oil to trim their lamps withal?”
“It had all been used to render their tongues limber. Never
did three damsels pour out words in so full a rivulet, as I was
honoured with for the first five minutes. By the end of that
time, I was enabled to put a question or two; after which they
were better satisfied to let me interrogate, while they were
content to answer.”
“Did you learn anything, Mike, to reward you for all this
trouble?” again glancing at his notes.
“I think I did. With a good deal of difficulty in eliminat-
ing the surplussage, if I may coin a word for the occasion, I
got these facts: It would seem that the German woman was a
newly – arrived immigrant, who had strolled into the country,
and offered to work for her food, &c. Mrs. Goodwin usually
attended to all her own domestic matters; but she had an attack of the rheumatism that predisposed her to receive this
offer, and that so much the more willingly, because the `help’
was not to be paid. It appears that the deceased female was an
odd mixture of miserly propensities with a love of display. She
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
hoarded all she could lay her hands on, and took a somewhat
uncommon pleasure in showing her hoards to her neighbours.
In consequence of this last weakness, the whole neighbourhood knew not only of her gold, for she turned every coin into
that metal, before it was consigned to her stocking; but of the
amount to a dollar, and the place where she kept it. In this all
agreed, even to the silent matron.”
“And what has become of this German woman?” asked
John, closing his notes with sudden interest. “Why was she not
examined before the inquest? and where is she now?”
“No one knows. She has been missing ever since the fire;
and a few fancy that she may, after all, be the person who has
done the whole mischief. It does wear a strange look, that no
trace can be heard of her!”
“This must be looked into closely, Mike. It is unaccountably
strange that more was not said of her before the coroner. Yet, I
fear one thing, too. Dr. McBrain is a man of the highest attainments as an anatomist, and you will remember that he inclines
to the opinion that both the skeletons belonged to females.
Now, it may turn out that this German woman’s remains have
been found; which will put her guilt out of the question.”
“Surely, Jack, you would not be sorry to have it turn out
that any human being should be innocent of such crimes!”
“By no means; though it really does seem to me more prob-
able that an unknown straggler should be the guilty one
in this case, than an educated young female, who has every
claim in the way of attainments to be termed a lady. Besides,
Michael, these German immigrants have brought more than
their share of crime among us. Look at the reports of murders
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
and robberies for the last ten years, and you will find that an
undue proportion of them have been committed by this class
of immigrants. To me, nothing appears more probable than
this affair’s being traced up to that very woman.”
“I own you are right, in saying what you do of the Germans.
But it should be remembered, that some of their states are said
to have adopted the policy of sending their rogues to America.
If England were to attempt that, now, I fancy Jonathan would
hardly stand it!”
“He ought not to stand it for an hour, from any nation on
earth. If there ever was a good cause for war, this is one. Yes,
yes; that German immigrant must be looked up, and examined”
Michael Millington smiled faintly at John Wilmeter’s dis-
position to believe the worst of the High Dutch; touching the
frailties of whom, however, neither of the two had exaggerated anything. Far more than their share of the grave crimes
of this country have, within the period named, been certainly
committed by immigrants from Germany; whether the cause
be in the reason given, or in national character. This is not
according to ancient opinion, but we believe it to be strictly
according to fact. The Irish are clannish, turbulent, and much
disposed to knock each other on the head; but it is not to rob,
or to pilfer, but to quarrel. The Englishman will pick your
pocket, or commit burglary, when inclined to roguery, and
frequently he has a way of his own of extorting, in the way of
vails. The Frenchmen may well boast of their freedom from
wrongs done to persons or property in this country; no class
of immigrants furnishing to the prisons, comparatively, fewer
criminals. The natives, out of all proportion, are freest from
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
crime, if the blacks be excepted, and when we compare the
number of the convicted with the number of the people. Still,
such results ought not to be taken as furnishing absolute rules
by which to judge of large bodies of men; since unsettled lives
on the one hand, and the charities of life on the other, may
cause disproportions that would not otherwise exist.
If one of these skeletons be that of the German woman, and
Dr. McBrain should prove to be right,” said John Wilmeter,
earnestly, “what has become of the remains of Mr. Goodwin?
There was a husband as well as a wife, in that family.”
“Very true,” answered Millington; “and I learned some-
thing concerning him, too. It seems that the old fellow drank
intensely, at times, when he and his wife made the house too
hot to hold them. All the Burtons agreed in giving this account
of the good couple. The failing was not generally known, and
had not yet gone so far as to affect the old man’s general character, though it would seem to have been known to the immediate neighbours.”
“And not one word of all this, is to be found in any of the
reports in the papers from town! Not a particle of testimony on
the point before the inquest! Why, Mike, this single fact may
furnish a clue to the whole catastrophe.”
“In what way?” Millington very quietly enquired.
“Those bones are the bones of females; old Goodwin has
robbed the house, set fire to it, murdered his wife and the German woman in a drunken frolic, and run away. Here is a history for Uncle Tom, that will delight him; for if he do not feel
quite certain of Mary Monson’s innocence now, he would be
delighted to learn its truth!”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“You make much out of a very little, Jack, and imagine far
more than you can prove. Why should old Goodwin set fire to
his own housefor I understand the property was hissteal his own
money for, though married women did then hold a separate estate in a bed – quilt, or a gridiron, the law could not touch the
previous accumulations of a feme coverte and murder a poor
foreigner, who could neither give nor take away anything that
the building contained? Then he is to burn his own house, and
make himself a vagrant in his old age and that among strangers!
I learn he was born in that very house, and has passed his days
in it. Such a man would not be very likely to destroy it.”
“Why not, to conceal a murder? Crime must be concealed,
or it is punished.”
“Sometimes,” returned Michael, drily. “This Mary Monson
will be hanged, out of all question, should the case go against
her, for she understands French, and Italian, and German, you
say; either of which tongues would be sufficient to hang her;
but had old Mrs. Goodwin murdered her, philanthropy would
have been up and stirring, and no rope would be stretched.”
“Millington, you have a way of talking, at times, that is quite
shocking! I do wish you could correct it. What use is there in
bringing a young lady like Miss Monson down to the level of
a common criminal?”
“She will be brought down as low as that, depend on it, if
guilty. There is no hope for one who bears about her person,
in air, manner, speech, and deportment, the unequivocal signs
of a lady. Our sympathies are all kept for those who are less set
apart from the common herd. Sympathy goes by majorities, as
well as other matters.”
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